WARNING: LONG ASS RANT REGARDING THE VALIDITY OF HIP HOP. READ AT YER OWN RISK!
And honestly, the whole "real musician" or "real music" annoys me. It's one thing to dislike what someone does or even to claim that they're untalented, but to try to delegitimize the very form in which they work without even understanding the form strikes me as kind of ignorant. No disrespect. As someone who makes rap music, I take these things personally.
Wish I could +1 it. Agree 100% with your entire post, but this part especially. I find dismissing hip hop as "not music" to be straight up insulting, actually. I play 6 instruments, including my voice, and I produce... And I've worked professionally on and in every genre of music except polka. Orchestrating some heat on a hip-hop track requires just as much talent and skill as any other genre.
I think a lot of people's perception of it is fucked up because they don't have any real understanding of what goes into it, and it's so radically different than "traditional" forms of music in terms of how it's written, recorded, and performed. At the same time, there are a ton of similarities as well, but hip-hop, along with any other music that incorporates digital instrumentation instead of analog (techno, trip-hop, industrial, whatever), is it's own animal, and certainly no less "valid" than anything else.
Hip-hop, specifically, can best be viewed as a (usually) two-man band, with one member doing the vast majority of the work. You've got the vocalist who obviously handles the mic, and you've got the producer (and sometimes D.J.) who orchestrates all the music. Sometimes you've got more than one of each, but whatever.
Thing is, most people aren't used to paying attention to the producer, because in almost every other genre, a producer doesn't do 1/10th of the work as a hip hop producer does. The hip hop producer WRITES THE WHOLE DAMN SONG, minus (sometimes) the lyrics.
In hip-hop, the entire genre has been CARRIED on the backs of the producers for over 10 years now, as groundbreaking emcees are such a rare commodity... and yet still nobody outside the genre gives them the credit they deserve.
A hip hop producer, in this day and age, is the closest thing we have to a classical composer like Beathoven or Bach. Yeah, I said it. Hear me out.
First, production wise, you've got to make sure everything is in tune, timed properly, that the instruments (sampled or otherwise) all work with each other harmoniously... How many bands do you know that mix a string quartet with a bass, a harmonica, a train whistle, 2 percussion tracks, a trumpet, a sax, and a vocal, and then on the very next song use a 40 piece orchestra, a trigger box, bass, dijareedoo, an electric guitar, a set of maracas, a percussion track and 3 vocals, and on the next track use a bass frequency generator, a harp, a blues harp, a steel drum, a synth, a percussion track and 2 vocals, etc..
Putting that together ain't exactly a walk in the park. In terms of difficulty, I'd rather mix and master a rock band any day. Just drums, guitar, bass, and vocal... And I don't have to write any of it either. Easy as pie by comparison.
The dismissy folks need to understand that the producer on a hip hop track is just as much a part of the finished song as the guitarist, drummer, and bass player of a standard band all put together, and deserves at LEAST as much recognition as the rapper on the mic.
For people that listen to and understand hip hop, this goes without saying. It's common knowledge. But to people on the outside looking in, because the producer's name isn't in lights, permanently attached to the artist/project, and because they don't come out on stage at the live gigs, and most importantly, because what they do requires a wealth of knowledge about a wide variety of things music related - and so therefore can not be simply picked up and emulated by amateurs or 14 year old kids like a guitar can -, they usually go completely unnoticed and unappreciated by the "outsiders".
Did Mozart personally play every instrument on Symphony #40? Nope. Didn't even make an attempt. Many hip hop producers, however, DO actually perform each track of the song themselves when making original compositions. Might use the same instrument for a dozen different sounds, but they still do it all. AND they mix it. AND they master it.
Given, the complexity of the arrangements are not usually up to classical or jazz standards, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be respected. I can appreciate an Aston Martin for it's power and styling and I can also appreciate a Harley Davidson for completely different reasons, even though it has half the wheels and no roof.
There is plenty of hip hop out there that IS amazing in terms of it's arrangement and performances as well, of course. But also, not everybody's like or dislike of music is contingent on it's level of complication. For people like myself, some will take overall vibe and tonal cohesion any day over sheer complexity of arrangement or performance.
As far as instrumentation... Who made the rule that all music has to come from analog instruments invented before 1950? And how is music produced on or by an electronic device any less valid, or musical? Just because the parts only need to be played once, in the studio? The parts still need to be written and played in the first place.
Even if a track is completely sample based, you've got to be pretty proficient on a keyboard to get your ideas out. And it takes a specifically unique form of talent, exclusive to the genre, to play 6 different parts on the same instrument using 6 different sets of samples. And only 6 sets is pretty basic.
You have to have an ear for the style of each instrument you're emulating, and be able to play a keyboard like a drum kit, a trumpet, a cello, a bass, an arp, and a harp, and make those tracks work with each other both sonically and stylistically.
It is often *extremely* challenging. And certainly not limited to keyboards either. I use a keyboard for the most part when working on hip-hop as it's the most versatile, but I also use an electric guitar and a series of synths and software as well to get my ideas out. I know a couple producers that use an electric guitar EXCLUSIVELY. And let me tell you, playing an electric guitar and making it sound appropriately like a violin requires a total shift in your style and how you approach the instrument.
The thing here is, hip hop producers may be limited to just a keyboard or a guitar whatever... But you need to have an ear for sound, period, in a way that no other genre requires. A guitar player in a rock band never needs to learn anything about a drum kit and vice versa - they only need to focus on their one part on one instrument. A hip hop producer, a good one (any slob can rip the guts out of a Marvin Gaye song and throw it over a kick and a snare), needs to have at least a basic understanding of the style and technique for every instrument they bring into the mix, or else it ends up a hot mess.
They may not know how to play a dijareedoo, but they need to know how one is supposed to be played, and they need to know how to make it work with everything else.
Then you've got turntablism. And while (unfortunately IMO) turntables are not used very often in contemporary hip hop outside live shows, the skill and technique of using a record player/digi as a rhythmical instrument is as rich and deep as a full 18 piece drum kit. That's no joke.
Now you can't deny, that would be one boring ass beat if homeboy was just standing there with his arms crossed.
Running a bass sequencer, frequency generator, etc. and doing it well ain't a walk in the park, either.
Each part of a song contributes to the whole, and requires it's own kind of talent. That's what I'm saying. And a hip hop producer carries a hell of a lot of weight on their shoulders.
I used to be pretty myopic in this regard. When I was a young buck around 17, I had a very narrow view of music. I was strictly a guitar/bass player then, just getting into singing, and I was very much of the opinion that unless it came from a "standard" (read: traditional) instrument, it was "lesser". I've always listened to hip hop, but up until my change in view, I just didn't see the level of musicianship in it.
Eventually I came to realize the incredible potential digital instruments and tools and techniques provided to the artist, and how much legitimate skill and talent it took to harness that potential.
Sounds, styles, arrangements, etc. that could otherwise never be produced on traditionals were available to me, and I gradually came to realize that I was stifling my creativity and my musical mojo by denying myself access to these things, out of a half baked "principle" that really made no sense outside of my own sense of pride among my fellow musicians.
One day I realized: "What's the point of condemning these things, when I can utilize them and make my music infinitely more rich, more compelling, more original, just BETTER? Who am I writing for? Other musicians, an audience, a music critic, or myself? Why should I not harvest every resource available to make my music as great as it can be?
My own music incorporates multiple styles, hip hop being one of them. And I'm open to anything. If it makes sound, it's a potential instrument to me. Now, I could never imagine putting myself back inside the box of traditional insturments only. I'd rather quit music altogether - it would be like loosing a limb creatively speaking.
Hip hop... Hip-hop is the most rhythmical branch of the music tree. And if I can be honest, white people don't usually have much rhythm. Which I think is why so many dismiss hip hop.
A lack of interest in rhythm, or a lack of rhythm period, is also, I think, what allows a lot of people to listen exclusively to classical music, which I personally find to be insufferably dull for the most part, as there is usually not even any sort of beat to speak of. Little to no percussion at all, and what IS there is usually spastic and, to me, unpleasent to listen to. Likewise, I could never subsist on a steady diet of Punk Rock, which relies on and is partially defined by only the most crude and basic of percussion. I enjoy Punk to a degree, but I find it to be very tedious.
I'm a man that's about a stone cold groove. I *need* music rich in rhythm. Hip hop scratches that itch, as do it's off shoots (trip-hop, etc.).. And since hip-hop's creation, many other forms of music have adopted richer rhythm, which I greatly appreciate.
In addition to being a heavily rhythm-oriented branch of the previously mentioned tree, it's also one of the most creatively liberated and versatile. The only general "rule" in hip hop is to keep the s**t real, speak from the heart, and rhyme about what you know. Other than that, you can use ANY instrument, incorporate ANY other genre, use ANY form of vocal expression from spoken word to singing to screaming to whispering, write about ANY subject, and it's all okay.
There is no other form of music that allows this kind of latitude.
Not to mention that there is no more direct line of communication from your speakers to your brain than the spoken word. Rapping itself is a whole other matter. So many people think it's just saying poetry into a mic. It IS NOT. You have the intricacies of the rhythms, the technique of the delivery, the flow, emotional content, lyrical content, wit, vocabulary, attitude, the ability to connect with people, and rhyme schemes that absolutely crush every other form of music in history...
You might say to yourself "Pffft.. Anybody can rap. *I* can rap. It's nothing special. Watch!" and then write yourself a little poem and do some god-awful impression of a rapper when you recite it. And then you go "See? Told ya."
And you would be a compelte jack-ass. Because nobody would be interested in hearing your souless, emotionally bankrupt, 2-dimensional amateur parody for 60 minutes on 12 different tracks. You THINK you're rapping because you have no appreciation for the art, and you are only seeing and hearing the crudest most surface level part of it.
It's like being tone deaf, watching somebody play guitar, and then picking one up and going "I can do that. Watch!" and just making a bunch of ugly noise. As long as your fingers are moving, you're a guitar player! No. You're tone deaf, hombre. And because your brain can't comprehend the multiple facets of what makes a good guitarist, let alone note variety, You don't have the slightest clue what you're trying to reproduce.
You might say "I can't understand the words!" That's because you don't listen to hip-hop. You're used to basic, traditional song-writing. Four, eight, sixteen lines, all rather predictable and simple by comparison, with very rigid rhythmical structure, constantly repeating rhythms and melodies.
So the language and the mode of expression of hip hop is alien to your brain. No other genre uses free-floating human speech as lyrical content. The rhythm, just like human speech, is organic and constantly changing. Couple that with the fact that you might be totally out of the loop when it comes to terminology and slang, and yeah. You're gonna be totally lost. Which sucks. Because you're really missing out.
But this is not a problem with the music. There's no rule that says it has to speak your language. It's there with or without you, and it doesn't care if you can't understand it, because it's written for the people who can.
After all my ranting here, it should be pretty obvious... It gets under my skin when people who don't know any better think the entire genre of hip hop is just dropping a pre-made bass line over a drum beat and having somebody rant into a microphone. It is SO much more than that. That's like saying that painting is just slapping a bunch of colors and shapes onto a canvas. To a degree, that's true - but there's a large difference between a toddler fingerpainting stick figures and a Salvador Dali piece.
Blah. Anyway, here. These guys are playing instruments live. Is this not music? Or musicianship?
If no, why? Because the vocal has limited melody? So a vocalist can't be strictly percussive and rhythm/lyric orientated? They HAVE to sing? Does that mean Joey Ramone is more qualified to be on a mic? I fucking think NOT lol.
Lyrical content goes a long with me, as well. A very long way. And straight up.
THERE IS NO OTHER GENRE OF MUSIC THAT COULD SAY WHAT THIS SONG SAYS.
That alone gives it a value near priceless. And it makes the genre peerless.
And if hip hop isn't music... Does that mean that when Erykah Badu, Anthrax, or Carlos Santana make a guest appearance on a hip-hop track, that they cease being musicians? I'm sorry, it's one thing to not care for or have any appreciation for something, but to have such a lack of respect as to completely de-value it of it's very essence is not only insulting to the artists who dedicate their lives to it, but it's extremely ignorant as well.
Hip hop has inspired generations of artists in every single genre of music, across all barriers of race and culture, and almost single handedly changed the way millions of people hear music in general.
EDIT: DUPLICATED THIS IN THE "MUSC APPRECIATION" THREAD. PROBABLY MORE APPROPRIATE THERE. FEEL FREE TO DELETE THIS IF SO DESIRED, MR./MRS. MODERATORS.